Lasagna

Lasagna (singular, pronounced [laˈzaɲa] in Italian; plural lasagne pronounced [laˈzaɲe]) is both a form of pasta in sheets (sometimes rippled, though seldom so in Northern Italy) and also a dish, sometimes named lasagne al forno (meaning “oven-cooked lasagne”) made with alternate layers of pasta, cheese, and often ragù (a meatsauce) or tomato sauce. In the UK, the dish is always spelled lasagne as it is in Italy.

The word lasagna, which originally applied to a cooking pot, now simply describes the food itself.[1] Americans commonly use the singular “lasagna” to refer to both the dish and the pasta, while others use the Italian plural “lasagne”.

Although the dish is generally believed to have originated in Italy, the word “lasagna” comes from the Greekλάσανα (lasana) or λάσανον (lasanon) meaning “trivet or stand for a pot”, “chamber pot”[3][4][5]. The Romans borrowed the word as “lasanum”, in Latin, meaning “cooking pot”. The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagna is made. It wasn’t long before the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.

Another theory suggests that lasagna might come from Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.[6][7][8][9]

The recipe was featured in the first cookbook ever written in England, leading to an urban legend that the dish originated in the British Isles.[10] The claim is dubious, in light of the much earlier Roman use of “lasanum”.